Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dear Mr. Hughes (and intro to my Fall '07 Poetry Portfolio)

First of all, I'd like to welcome all of you who read this blog to the first installment of poetry that will be submitted to my ENGL 382B class as my "Fall 2007 Poetry Portfolio."

The portfolio consists of 17 assignments and 21 poems overall. A lot of these poems will be new to my readers. Others I have used before, but have been re-written for this particular class. So if you think you've seen a poem before, you probably have...but now you're seeing it after being through workshop and re-written.

To my readers, be kind with your reviews but also be truthful as well. But don't be like "This sucks" and not have an explanation. If you have any questions, ask them? Something bother you? Tell me about it. A writer's job is to write for a mass audience.

Any changes that you suggest will be taken under consideration, but will not likely be used in my portfolio since I am under a deadline (that technically has yet to be determined by my instructor).

Now, for your feature presentation.

This poem Dear Mr. Hughes is an example of an emulation poem. The assignment for this piece was to emulate one of your favorite poets. Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets and wanted to write something that maybe he would appreciate.

However, this is less of an emulation and more of a response to Hughes' Dream Deferred which can be read here.



Dear Mr. Hughes

What happens to a dream
deferred by outsiders
who wish for our demise?
They try to kill our self esteem,
instead we use their hatred
to power and fuel our dreams.
What happens to a dream deferred?
we make it come true.
For dreams are not just
for those with tired eyes.



copyright Luis C. Medina 2007

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